Apparatus for raise drilling

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for forming large diameter shafts between the roof of a mine tunnel and the surface of the earth. A pilot hole is drilled between the surface of the earth and the roof of the mine. A pipe is inserted through a pilot hole to the roof of the mine, and an arm is connected to the lower end of the pipe. The arm has a plurality of jets mounted facing toward the roof and in fluid communication with the inside of the pipe. The upper end of the pipe is connected to a high pressure pump which in turn is connected to a source of fluid, such as water. Apparatus is provided for rotating the upper end of the pipe and for pulling the pipe toward the surface of the earth as the roof is eroded by fluids from the jets impinging on the roof of the mine.

United States Patent 1191 Poundstone Sept. 16, 1975 [5 APPARATUS FORRAISE DRILLING 3,470,952 10/1969 Biount 175 422 x 3,675,729 7 1972 N 'l17 [75] Inventor: William N. Poundstone, Pittsburgh, a son 5/53 P v aPrimary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott [73] Assignee: Consolidation CoalCompany, Assistant Examiner Richard E. Favreau Pittsburgh, Pa. Attorney,Agent, or Firm-William J. Miller [22] Filed: Aug. 29, 1973 [21 A 1 N'392 602 [57] TRACT 1 pp' 0" An apparatus for forming large diametershafts between the roof of a mine tunnel and the surface of the [52] US.Cl. 175/53; 175/67; 299/2; arth A ilot hole is drilled between thesurface of the 299/18; 2 earth and the roof of the mine. A pipe isinserted [51] Int. Cl.2 E21C 23/00 thr u h a pilot hole to the roof ofthe mine, and an 1 Field of Search arm is connected to the lower end ofthe pipe. The arm has a plurality of jets mounted facing toward the roofand in fluid communication with the inside of the [56] R f r n s Citedpipe. The upper end of the pipe is connected to a high UNITED STATESPATENTS pressure pump which in turn is connected to a source 950,3632/1910 Blake 299 17 x of fluid, Such as Water- Apparatus is Provided for2,290,502 7/1942 Squires 175/406 x e the upper end of the P p and forPulling the 2,684,834 7/1954 Miller et a1.. 175 53 pipe tow rd thesurface of the earth as the roof is 2,758,653 8/1956 Desbrow 175/50eroded by fluids from the jets impinging on the roof of 2,785,875 3/1957Hayes 175/67 X the mi e 2.847,]89 8/1958 Shook 175/285 X 3,231,0291/1966 Winberg 175/53 1 Clam! 3 Drewlng Flgures 1s a a n a g 0 v 12" 0 0a ",;.:s g gg o zvfjofl z; a /1: 9:9 -02 M D a DQ000000 b nd 0 0 9 0Ppfl fl a 0 :0 n i "2523 i i zi v i 66 53 4 i 55 5| WATER 56 1 1 soAPPARATUS FOR RAISE DRELLING BRIEF DESCRIPTI'ON OF THE PRIOR ART Raisedrilling has been used for many years for forming shafts in mines andfor mining operations.

' lower level in a mine and running a cable down the hole which isattached to a drill. The cable is pulled up while the drill is rotated.Means are provided below the drill for catching the material dislodged.

US. Pat. Nos. 3,23 l ,029 and 3,460,867 are also illustrative of thistype of mining.

Some reaming has been employed using jets. The patent to Schweitzer etal., US. Pat. No. 2,0I8,284, shows the use of jets to slightly widen thebottom of a well bore, and the patent to Shook, U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,189,illustrates jets used in combination with a scraper for removingmaterial during raise drilling. It should be noted that the jets are notused for the purpose of dislodgihg the coal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTEON OF THE INVENTION One of the extremely costly processesduring any mining operation underground is the forming of shafts foreither moving men and materials into and out of the mine or for airvents for either moving air into or out of the mine. These shafts willbe several hundred feet deep and over 6 feet in diameter. The normalmethod of forming the shafts is to either bore a hole from the surfaceor to raise drill from the mine roof to the sur face. In either case theequipment to perform the operation is extremely expensive, usuallyseveral million dollars. and requires many personnel over a period oftime.

This invention describes a means for forming a large diameter shaftwhich can be performed by one or two people without an expensivedrilling rig. The invention basically consists of drilling a bore holeof small diameter from the surface of the earth to the mine roof. Pipeis inserted into the bore hole to the mine roof where a second pipe,mounted at right angles to the aforementioned pipe, is attached. Theright angle pipe has a length equal to the desired radius of the shaftto be formed. The right angle pipe has mounted thereon a plurality ofjets having an extremely small orifice and attached at an angle to thepipe. A high pressure pump is rigidly attached to the top of the pipewith its inlet connected to a rotatably sealed pipe. A source of wateris connected to this pipe. Water will flow to the pump where it iscompressed to an extremely high pressure, for example, 20,000 pounds,and forced down the pipe and into the jets. The bore hole pipe isrotated, causing the jets to cut the roof of the mine as the pipe isbeing rotated. The angle of the jets prevents cutting uniform ridges inthe roof of the mine.

The invention above-described will form large diameter shafts with avery minimum of horsepower and equipment and few people to operate theapparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG. i shows the cross-scction of earth fromthe surface to a mine tunnel and details the pilot drill and the rightangle jet cutting pipe;

FIG. 2 is a view taken through lines 2-2 of FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a detailed drawing of the right angle pipe and jetsillustrated in FIG. 1.

Referring to all of the drawings but in particular to FIG. 1, a borehole is drilled from the surface 11 to a mine tunnel 12. A casing 13 isused to line the bore hole to a particular depth. The casing in FIG. 1is illustrated as lining the bore hole from the surface 11 to tunnel 12;however, the casing could stop far short of this depth, for example, atdepth 15. The remainder of the bore hole could be left uncased.

Inside the casing is inserted a communicating means such as a verticalsupport pipe 16 being attached to right angles to a jet mounting pipe17. A plurality of jets I8 is attached to mounting pipe 17 so that thejets are in fluid communication with the interior of pipe 17. Jets 18have an orifice 19 at their terminus having a diameter which dependsupon the amount of horsepower available. Details of a preferredembodiment will be disclosed in the discussion of FIG. 3.

At the surface of the earth a drill rig 20 is placed over well bore 10.Casing 13 extends through a base 21 of drill rig 20 and has a rotatablemeans 22 mounted thereto. Rotatable means 22 is mechanically connectedto vertical support pipe 16 and rotatably mounted on casing 13 by meansof bearing 23. A pipe 24 is connected to vertical support pipe 16 by anyusual means, such as threads, at one end and is connected to pump 25 atits outlet 26. An inlet pipe 27 has one end connected to the inlet 28 ofpump 25 and has the other end hook 41 to an eye 42 attachedto the top"ofrotatable seal The other end of pulley block is connected through aplurality of lines 43 to a winch 44. l

The material being dislodged by jets 18 may be collected in a hopperhaving an outlet 51 which can drop into a conveyer 52 to a crusher 53, asecond conveyer 54, and into a slurry'hopper system 55. Water will besupplied through a pipe 56 to slurry hopper and the mixture removed fromhopper 55 through a pump 58 and slurry pipe 57 to the disposal area forthe mined material.

Hopper 50 may be supported against the roof by any usual means, such ashydraulic supports 60. Supports 60 may also be mechanical. If hopper 50and the subsequent conveyer system and slurry system are not desired,the material can be collected in any ordinary manner, such as permittingit to drop to the mine floor and removing it by conveyers'to shuttlecars or high loaders to any form of mine transportation.

Referring to FIG. 3., a detail of the jets .is illustrated.

The angle 6 is sufficient to prevent the jet from creating channels inthe coal which would happen if the jets were vertical. The orifice size,as previously mentioned, for the preferred embodiment is 0.008 inch indiameter and can handle 6 to l0 horsepower per nozzle. Jets should bemounted apart by a distance of 3 to 4 inches. The distance from the topof the mounting pipe 17 to the roof of the mine will be approximately 4.to 5 inches. Assuming 6 to 10 horsepower per nozzle, it is estimatedthat no more than 4,000 to 5,000 horsepower will be required to bore ahole. Little energy is required to rotate the vertical support pipe 16and the jet mounting pipe 17; therefore, asmall motor 70 is connectedthrough a belt drive 71 to rotatable means 22.

OPERATION The apparatus described in FIGS. 1 through 3 operates in thefollowing manner:

Motor 70 through belt drive 71 rotates rotatable means 22 which ismechanically secured to vertical support pipe 16 causing same to rotate.Since jet mounting pipe 17 is likewise rigidly connected to verticalsupport pipe 16, jet mounting pipe 17 will rotate through 360 about theaxis of pipe 16.

Fluids entering pipe 31 either directly or through pump 33 will passthrough rotatable seal 30 and to the inlet 28 of pump 25 where the wateris compressed to 20,000 to 30,000 pounds per square inch. The highlycompressed water is then pumped through pipe 24 to vertical support pipe16 and into jet mounting pipe 17. The high pressure fluid or water willthen enter jets 18 and out of orifice 19 against the roof of mine 12.

The high velocity jets will dislodge the material above them, causing itto drop to the hopper. Hopper outlet 51 can be opened and closed by amechanical arm control 59. Once the coal passes through outlet 51, itwill drop onto conveyer 52 and be conveyed to crusher 53 where, oncecrushed, it will drop onto conveyer 54 and into slurry hopper 55. Aspreviously mentioned the slurry system does not need to be incorporated.The material can fall to the floor of the mine where it can be removedby any suitable means, or it can fall into the hopper as shown in FIG. 1and the coal dropped from outlet 51 to any suitable hauling means.

Approximately 30 gallons of water a minute will be jetted against theroof of the mine. The amount of water being released by the jets cantherefore be easily absorbed by the material being mined and hauledaway; therefore. nno accumulation of water to any appreciable extentwill form on the mine floor.

Pump 25 has its outlet directly connected to pipe 24. No rotatable sealis used because the high pressure involved would cause extreme technicaldifficulties. The low pressure side, however, would not pose a problemfor a rotatable seal. The pump 25 is powered by slip rings mountedaround the rotational axis of the pump and connected electrically to thepump. Brushes biased against the slip rings are connected electricallyto a source of power all in a manner well known in the art.

As the surface is eroded by the high velocity jets, winch 44 will applytension to lines 43 which will lift pulley block 40. Hook 41 through eye42 will raise rotatable seal 30, pump 25, and vertical support pipe 16.Once a new joint of pipe in vertical support pipe 16 moves aboverotatable means 22, any suitable clamping arrangement can be utilized tohold pipe 16 until a section is removed and pump 25 is reconnected. Asplit clamp, such as 95, mounted on top of rotatable means 22 can beused to retain pipe 16.

It is obvious that changes and modifications can be made in theapparatus disclosed in this specification and claims. Thesemodifications and changes are fully within the scope of this invention.

' I claim:

1. An apparatus for forming large diameter shafts between the roof of amine tunnel and the surface of the earth having rock and materialtherebetween comprising:

a. means for forming a pilot hole between said surface and said roof;

b. means communicating through said pilot hole for conveying fluidsunder pressure, said communication means having an upper end and a lowerend;

0. pump means having an inlet and an outlet, means for securing saidpump means rigidly to said communicating means, swivel joint meanshaving an inlet and an outlet, means for connecting the outlet of saidswivel joint means to the inlet of said pump means, and means forconnecting the inlet of said swivel joint means to a source of fluid;

d. a jet mounting pipe attached to the lower end of said communicationmeans, said jet mounting pipe having fluid communication with saidcommunication means;

6. a plurality of jets attached to said jet mounting pipe, saidplurality of jets adapted to direct said fluid under high pressureagainst the exposed surface of said rock and material above said mineroof, thereby dislodging same;

f. means for rotating said communication means and said jet mountingpipe; and

g. means for raising said communication means, pump means, and said jetmounting pipe as said rock and material are dislodged by said jets.

1. An apparatus for forming large diameter shafts between the roof of amine tunnel and the surface of the earth having rock and materialtherebetween comprising: a. means for forming a pilot hole between saidsurface and said roof; b. means communicating through said pilot holefor conveying fluids under pressure, said communication means having anupper end and a lower end; c. pump means having an inlet and an outlet,means for securing said pump means rigidly to said communicating means,swivel joint means having an inlet and an outlet, means for connectingthe outlet of said swivel joint means to the inlet of said pump means,and means for connecting the inlet of said swivel joint means to asource of fluid; d. a jet mounting pipe attached to the lower end ofsaid communication means, said jet mounting pipe having fluidcommunication with said communication means; e. a plurality of jetsattached to said jet mounting pipe, said plurality of jets adapted todirect said fluid under high pressure against the exposed surface ofsaid rock and material above said mine roof, thereby dislodging same; f.means for rotating said communication means and said jet mounting pipe;and g. means for raising said communication means, pump means, and saidjet mounting pipe as said rock and material are dislodged by said jets.